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Lightsail propulsion could enable interstellar travel at speeds never before imagined | The Breakthrough Starshot Initiative — backed by theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and scientist Yuri Milner — aims to send miniature spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, our nearest star system.
Simultaneous measurements of the optical force and power exerted by a collimated laser beam on a 50-nm-thick silicon nitride lightsail membrane suspended by compliant micromechanical springs quantify the radiation pressure, enabling further multiphysics studies of radiation pressure forces on macroscopic objects.
We propose an approach for simultaneous measurement of optical forces and powers based on the multiphysics dynamics induced by the excitation laser beam. By modelling the lightsail with a 50-nm-thick microscopic silicon nitride membrane suspended by compliant springs, we quantify force from off-resonantly driven displacement and power from heating-induced mechanical mode softening. Vasilyan, S., Fröhlich, T. & Manske, E. Total momentum transfer produced by the photons of a multi-pass laser beam as an evident avenue for optical and mass metrology.
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